limn

(lĭm)

tr.v. limned, limn•ing (lĭm′nĭng), limns

1. To describe or depict by painting or drawing.

2. To suffuse or highlight with light or color; illuminate: "There was just enough juice left in Merrill's flashlight to limn the outlines: A round lobe here. Another lobe over there" (Hampton Sides).

3. To describe or portray in words.

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[Middle English limnen, to illuminate (a manuscript), probably alteration (influenced by limnour, illustrator) of luminen, from Old French luminer, from Latin lūmināre, to illuminate, adorn, from lūmen, lūmin-, light; see leuk- in Indo-European roots.]

Used most often in the Solomon Kane tales, often set at night, such as in this passage from The Moon of Skulls, “He halted a moment at its foot, staring upward where it rose blackly limned against the dying sun.”